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Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI)

About

Completed January 2013

The MIT Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) was a research consortium that was founded in 1993 and active through 2012. LAI’s purpose was to enable enterprises to effectively, efficiently, and reliably create value in complex and rapidly changing environments. Over the course of nearly two decades, LAI’s collaborative partnerships with industry, government, and academic partners fostered the development of institutional principles, processes, behaviors, and tools for enterprise excellence.

LAI’s complete collection of products and tools, theses, case studies, etc., are available on DSpace@MIT.

LAI’s Educational Network (EdNet) was launched in 2002 and grew into an international consortium of educational institutions that channeled LAI research findings and best practices into undergraduate and graduate lean educational curricula. EdNet also co-founded the Lean Educator Conference, an annual conference for lean teachers and trainers. The EdNet LAI Lean Academy curriculum can be accessed via MIT Open Courseware, and an instructor version and the associated Lean Enterprise Value Educational Simulations are available for purchase from Metis Design. EdNet is being integrated into the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ Lean Division and will continue to serve as a unique resource for lean knowledge and best practices.

The MIT Consortium for Engineering Program Excellence (CEPE), a research program within the MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center, is affiliated with former LAI research. CEPE focuses on lean thinking for large-scale engineering programs by integrating program management, systems engineering, product development, and systems engineering approaches.